Electrical connector assembly with antenna function

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, and more particularly to electrical connector assembly having antenna function.

2. Description of Prior Art

Personal computer technologies have been embraced in many portable electronics devices including: cellular telephones, personal data assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, MP3 players, pen-drives, digital video cameras, as well as other mobile devices. Many of the portable electronic devices can be configured to operate with various peripheral devices such as a computer mouse, a computer writing tablet, a digital camera, as well as others. Moreover, many of the portable electronic devices are also configured to interface with personal computers through a standard interface.

The need for standardization in computer related interfaces, as well as the need for high-speed communication interfaces has lead to the development of the universal serial bus (USB). The USB interface is a high-speed communication protocol that permits devices to communicate at data rates on the order of 48 Mb/s. A revised USB interface such as the USB 2.0 specification can operate at even higher speeds that are on the order of 480 Mb/s. The high speed USB interface has lead to widespread acceptance of external peripheral devices such as USB HDD systems, USB Ethernet devices, USB compact disk writing devices (e.g., CD/RW), as well as other devices.

Today, more and more electronic devices, such as personal computers, notebook computers, electronic appliances, and the like, are normally equipped with an internal antenna that serves as a medium for transmission and reception of electromagnetic signals, such as date, audio, image, and so on. PIFA (Planar Inverted-F Antenna) is a kind of minitype antenna usually used in the electronic devices. PIFA has compact structure, light weight, perfect impedance match, desired horizontal polarization and vertical polarization, and is easy to achieve multifrequency. So, more and more PIFAs are used in the electronic devices. Electrical connector assembly and the antenna of the traditional electronic devices are two separate components. Accordingly, the electrical connector and the antenna respectively occupy inner space of the electronic devices. However, electronic devices trend to miniaturization developing. For saving inner space of the electronic devices, many components being integrated is a question.

Hence, in this art, an electrical connector assembly with antenna function to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art will be described in detail in the following embodiment.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector assembly which has antenna function.

To achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention provides an electrical connector assembly with antenna function comprising: a PCB comprising a feeding circuit and a grounding circuit; an electrical connector installed on the PCB comprising a metal shell electrically connecting to the grounding circuit; a metal patch connecting to the metal shell comprising a radiating element and a connecting element; the radiating element electrical connecting to the feeding circuit; the connecting element connecting the radiating element and the metal shell; the radiating element, the connecting element, and the metal shell forming an antenna that serves as a medium for transmission and reception of electromagnetic signals.

Additional novel features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector assembly with antenna in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 , but from a different aspect; and

FIG. 4 is a test chart recording for the antenna of the in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) of frequency band.

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1-3 , an electrical connector assembly 100 with antenna function in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention comprises a micro USB electrical connector 20 , a metal patch 30 , an insulating support element 40 , and a PCB 50 .

The USB electrical connector 20 comprises an insulating body (not shown), several contacts (not shown) received in the insulating body, and a metal shell 21 covering the insulating body. The metal shell 21 comprises a welding element 211 extending vertically and downwardly from a bottom surface of the metal shell 21 .

The metal patch 30 connects to the metal shell 21 of the USB connector 20 . Accordingly, the metal patch 30 and the metal shell form an antenna that serves as a medium for transmission and reception of electromagnetic signals. The metal patch 30 comprises an L-shape connecting element 31 lying in a first plane and connecting to the metal shell 21 , a radiating element 33 connecting to the connecting element 31 , a feeding element 32 extending from a joint of the connecting element 31 and the radiating element 33 . The radiating element 33 comprises a first L-shape radiating branch 331 lying in the first plane, a second inverted n-shape radiating branch 332 lying in a second plane and extending from an end of the first radiating branch 331 , and a third L-shape radiating branch 333 lying in the first plane. The first plane is vertical to the second plane. The feeding element 32 is vertical to the radiating branch 331 . The electrical connector assembly is mounted on the PCB 50 . The welding element 211 of the electrical connector 20 and the feeding element 32 are soldered respectively to suitable circuit of the PCB 50 .

The insulating support element 40 having n-shape comprises a main body 41 and two vertical element 42 extending vertically and downwardly from two side of the main body 41 . The first radiating branch 331 and the third radiating branch 333 locate on the top surface of the main body 41 . The second radiating branch 332 of the radiating element 30 clings to a front surface 43 of the insulating support element 40 .

The PCB 50 comprises a pair of first slot 51 for receiving the welding element 211 , a second slot 52 for receiving the feeding element 32 , and feeding circuit and grounding circuit (not shown). The metal shell 21 electrically connects to the grounding circuit. The radiating element 30 electrically connects to the feeding circuit.

The electrical connector 20 of the present invention is not limited to the micro USB connector of the first embodiment, other types electrical connector as well as used in present invention, such as USB connector, HDMI connector, IEEE 1394 connector and so on.

FIG. 4 is a test chart of Voltage Standing Wave Ratio of the electrical connector assembly 100 as an antenna. Referring to FIG. 4 , operating frequency band of the electrical connector assembly 100 as an antenna are 2.4 GHz-2.5 GHz.